McDermott: Josh Allen 'tried to do too much' in loss

[CincyBillsFan]

4 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

He didn't call out Allen. His quotes are being taking out of context to generate clicks.

 

He was sloppy in his comments at the very least.  And it's not like McD to be sloppy in his comments.

 

 

[london_bills]

6 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

 

That's even worse IMO.  The ONLY place McD needed to address this was with Allen privately.  And given the FACTS of how this game went and all the places you could legitimately point the finger of blame, it was deeply unfair to throw Allen under the bus which is exactly what McD did here.  I'm not sure it matters much whether he meant to or not.

 

Once the game was over and if we're to believe in this "process" of McD's then we need to see it in action after a disappointing loss.  The ONLY thing to say publicly is that it was a disappointing loss and we have to learn from it and grow.  And in fact this is the correct thing to say because going forward the Bills can build off this.  McD screwed up here and hopefully it will just go away.

 

 

 

 

I take your point. I don't think the deflection is conscious. It does say to me that mcd feels that Allen was a contributor to the loss and yes it does say something about mcd at this point. 

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

55 minutes ago, Hapless Bills Fan said:

 

All good questions and should be asked, but I honestly don't think McD intended to throw Allen under the bus

Then he should've answered it the same way he answered similar questions during the year...."I'm sure Josh wishes he had that play back."

[BADOLBILZ]

3 hours ago, K-9 said:

Perhaps McDermott should have tried to do too much as well. Josh is a Fking competitor. I'm not so sure of our coaches. 

 

 

The criticism of Allen to prove that he's coaching him hard has been cute and all up til now.........but McD should have had nothing but praise for him today.

 

Tough loss for a work-in-progress QB but the bigger issue is the poorly coordinated offense and middling talent around him.

 

Allen didn't ask to be drafted by a team that has spent 3 of their 4 first round picks on defense and gave him a very tough offense to learn and has just plain done damn near the bare minimum to make him look good.

 

[CincyBillsFan]

2 minutes ago, london_bills said:

There's that and also what is said in public. I think what mcd said about Allen is fair tbh. 

 

There would normally be a more balanced assessment of 'things he did well, and throws he'd like back. '

 

It was a short presser and he wasn't asked questions about who was to blame, was just asked specifically about Allen. I do take your point as a leader you would expect a bit more humility, accountability but I think the narrow range of questions asked also contributes to this narrative of McDermott blaming Allen.

 

McD can steer the answer to the question in any direction he wants.  Have you heard how he answers injury questions?

 

And let's face it when it comes to the sports media and Allen McD's been around the block.  He should know that some of these "reporters" are out to trash Allen and magnify every mistake while minimizing every success.  He should suspect an agenda when he's asked this kind of question and answer it accordingly. 

 

 

[london_bills]

7 minutes ago, Motorin' said:

He didn't call out Allen. His quotes are being taking out of context to generate clicks.

Right. Its not quite how it's made out to be. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

3 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

He was sloppy in his comments at the very least.  And it's not like McD to be sloppy in his comments.

 

I thought he looked like he was shell shocked and struggling not to cry

[BillsVet]

5 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

That's even worse IMO.  The ONLY place McD needed to address this was with Allen privately.  And given the FACTS of how this game went and all the places you could legitimately point the finger of blame, it was deeply unfair to throw Allen under the bus which is exactly what McD did here.  I'm not sure it matters much whether he meant to or not.

 

Once the game was over and if we're to believe in this "process" of McD's then we need to see it in action after a disappointing loss.  The ONLY thing to say publicly is that it was a disappointing loss and we have to learn from it and grow.  And in fact this is the correct thing to say because going forward the Bills can build off this.  McD screwed up here and hopefully it will just go away.

 

Here's McD at the Combine talking about offense and then compare to their output this season:

 

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2019/02/what-sean-mcdermott-said-about-being-defensive-coach-in-offensive-era-of-nfl.html

 

Cliff notes version: Gotta score 21 points per game.  2019 Bills Reality: Did so in only 6 of 17 games against one of the league's easiest schedules.

[Motorin']

Just now, london_bills said:

Right. Its not quite how it's made out to be. 

The exact question was about Allen playing out of character and just throwing the ball up for grabs. 

[Hapless Bills Fan]

1 minute ago, CincyBillsFan said:

 

McD can steer the answer to the question in any direction he wants.  Have you heard how he answers injury questions?

 

And let's face it when it comes to the sports media and Allen McD's been around the block.  He should know that some of these "reporters" are out to trash Allen and magnify every mistake while minimizing every success.  He should suspect an agenda when he's asked this kind of question and answer it accordingly.

 

OK, I am coming around to your viewpoint on this.  It was at best, an unfortunate response from McDermott.

[Success]

I can’t help but feel positive about Allen.  As usual, he was a gamer.  Big resiliency to rebound from those bad sacks to set up the game tying FG.

 

And he did get us down in position for a game winner, if not for the bogus call on Ford.

 

Some bad plays, too.  But he’ll learn and get better.

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

4 minutes ago, BADOLBILZ said:

 

 

The criticism of Allen to prove that he's coaching him hard has been cute and all up til now.........but McD should have had nothing but praise for him today.

 

Tough loss for a work-in-progress QB but the bigger issue is the poorly coordinated offense and middling talent around him.

 

Allen didn't ask to be drafted by a team that has spent 3 of their 4 first round picks on defense and gave him a very tough offense to learn and has just plain done damn near the bare minimum to make him look good.

 

Absolutely, the kid played his heart out today. 372 yards total offense, the leading passer, the leading rusher and caught the only TD today on the road in his first ever playoff game with coaches who had their heads up their butt. I thought he did quite well considering.

[CincyBillsFan]

1 minute ago, Motorin' said:

The exact question was about Allen playing out of character and just throwing the ball up for grabs. 

 

That's a question with an agenda because that is NOT what Allen was doing.  On the Bill's only possession in OT Allen had a couple of great throws to convert 3rd downs.  I guess the questioner was referring to the 2 throws to the end zone at the end of regulation?  They weren't up for grab throws as they were safe throws over Dukes head.  We didn't have any TO's left and you don't want to throw an int. 

 

Or is the "up for grab throws" referring to the deep pass to DeMarco?  There are a lot of NFL WR's & TE's that catch that ball.  It looked like it was up for grabs becasue we had a FB running 40 yards downfield on a pass play.

 

Bottom line is that McD needed to recognize an agenda driven question and answer it appropriately.

 

 

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

2 minutes ago, Success said:

I can’t help but feel positive about Allen.  As usual, he was a gamer.  Big resiliency to rebound from those bad sacks to set up the game tying FG.

 

And he did get us down in position for a game winner, if not for the bogus call on Ford.

 

Some bad plays, too.  But he’ll learn and get better.

100% agree, I'm right where you are. A couple bad plays but again 372 total yards in a game where the offense gained 425 total yards. 

[london_bills]

11 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

 

McD can steer the answer to the question in any direction he wants.  Have you heard how he answers injury questions?

 

And let's face it when it comes to the sports media and Allen McD's been around the block.  He should know that some of these "reporters" are out to trash Allen and magnify every mistake while minimizing every success.  He should suspect an agenda when he's asked this kind of question and answer it accordingly. 

 

 

He doesn't answer injury questions directly after a playoff loss. This interview comes straight after a frustrating loss when the bills were up. He is only human, as is Allen.

 

But remember as a coach it can also be naturally frustrating to have a player after two years still do the things that you would like to see improved. This can be another way of exerting your message as a head coach. I didn't think that is what is going on here although I might be wrong. 

 

Your last paragraph is very interesting and he is always very astute at this media managing I think. He is savvy, and could intentionally say something to cause a deflection of blame but here I think it's a bit careless and overly honest. In a way I respected his candour and the less political answer. Not sure allen would of. Yes if I was Allen I might feel annoyed with this but I thought he was trying to do too much as the game went on! 

Edited January 5, 2020 by london_bills

[LOVEMESOMEBILLS]

1 minute ago, CincyBillsFan said:

 

That's a question with an agenda because that is NOT what Allen was doing.  On the Bill's only possession in OT Allen had a couple of great throws to convert 3rd downs.  I guess the questioner was referring to the 2 throws to the end zone at the end of regulation?  They weren't up for grab throws as they were safe throws over Dukes head.  We didn't have any TO's left and you don't want to throw an int. 

 

Or is the "up for grab throws" referring to the deep pass to DeMarco?  There are a lot of NFL WR's & TE's that catch that ball.  It looked like it was up for grabs becasue we had a FB running 40 yards downfield on a pass play.

 

Bottom line is that McD needed to recognize an agenda driven question and answer it appropriately.

 

 

Yup, like he did the rest of the year. I need to look at the tape, but I'm sure that's a play Josh wishes he could have back.

[london_bills]

2 hours ago, Captain Caveman said:

Exactly

 

 

Also - does anyone have the actual question that he was responding to here?  I think context is important.  If he's answering a question about why they lost, yes, this would be out of line.  I doubt that's the case.  If someone asked him about Allen's performance, or some of his mistakes, I see it in a totally different light.

Exactly 

[Bermuda Triangle]

24 minutes ago, CincyBillsFan said:

 

That's a question with an agenda because that is NOT what Allen was doing.  On the Bill's only possession in OT Allen had a couple of great throws to convert 3rd downs.  I guess the questioner was referring to the 2 throws to the end zone at the end of regulation?  They weren't up for grab throws as they were safe throws over Dukes head.  We didn't have any TO's left and you don't want to throw an int. 

 

Or is the "up for grab throws" referring to the deep pass to DeMarco?  There are a lot of NFL WR's & TE's that catch that ball.  It looked like it was up for grabs becasue we had a FB running 40 yards downfield on a pass play.

 

Bottom line is that McD needed to recognize an agenda driven question and answer it appropriately.

 

 

With no timeouts left, those passes either had to be OOB our in the end zone. Hauschka made the FG regardless, so I'm not sure what sort of negative impact those two plays had.

 

Would love to hear McDermott's explanation for the sequence at the end of the first half - TO, followed by Gore run (?), followed by spike.  Mind boggling.

[CincyBillsFan]

9 minutes ago, BillsVet said:

 

Here's McD at the Combine talking about offense and then compare to their output this season:

 

https://www.newyorkupstate.com/buffalo-bills/2019/02/what-sean-mcdermott-said-about-being-defensive-coach-in-offensive-era-of-nfl.html

 

Cliff notes version: Gotta score 21 points per game.  2019 Bills Reality: Did so in only 6 of 17 games against one of the league's easiest schedules.

 

Reading this actually concerns me.  You can't just arbitrarily target "21 points" and build an offense that can reach that score.  Football isn't that precise.  The best you can do is create an offense that scores within a targeted RANGE.  If you look at the play calling and collection of talent on the field the Bill's O is designed to score between 16 - 24 points per game.  That's a reasonable target in a sport with the variability of football.  This is especially true when you pair that offense up with a defense that generated NO defensive TD's and had by my count only ONE forced TO in the opponents red zone.  

 

For comparison, a potent offense would be expected to score between 25 - 35 points per game.  Score less and you need a stronger then expected defensive effort to win.

 

So we have a weak to moderate offense paired with a supposedly "elite" Defense and I would argue that in games where the Offense was at the lower end of their scoring potential the D almost never played elite.

 

Within TARGET RANGE (16 - 24 points) scoring games - wins:

Beat the Jets 17 - 16;  Beat the Bengals 21 - 17;  Beat Washington 24 - 9;  Beat the Broncos 20 - 3;  Beat the Steelers 17 - 10;

 

Within TARGET RANGE scoring games - losses:

Lost to Cleveland 16 - 19;  Lost to Ravens 17 - 24;  Lost to Pats 17 - 24;  Lost to Texans 19 - 22

 

Lower then TARGET RANGE scoring games - wins:

Beat TN 14 - 7

 

Lower then TARGET RANGE scoring games - losses:

Lost to NE 10 - 16;  Lost to Eagles 13 - 31

 

Higher then TARGET RANGE scoring games - wins:

Beat the Giants 28 - 14;  Beat Miami 31 - 21;  Beat Miami 37 - 20;  Beat Dallas 25 - 16

 

I didn't include the Jets game because most of the starters didn't play.  But from this list only ONE TIME did our D play elite in a game that the O didn't reach it's TARGET RANGE and that was against TN. 

 

Given the talent on the Offense and including a wholesale change out of players from 2018 and the fact that we were starting 3 rookies on that unit a target range of 16 - 24 is reasonable.  Insisting on a minimum target of 21 is not reasonable IMO.  And if you truly have an elite D you have to win a couple of games when your offense reaches 16 or more points.  We didn't. 

[london_bills]

7 minutes ago, Bermuda Triangle said:

With no timeouts left, those passes either had to be OOB our in the end zone. Hauschka made the FG regardless, so I'm not sure what sort of negative impact those two plays had.

 

Would love to hear McDermott's explanation for the sequence at the end of the first half - TO, followed by Gore run (?), followed by spike.  Mind boggling.

Something I thought about was why wasn't Allen trying to get Hauschka in a better range there. I recall we didn't have a timeout but could of spiked it. I think we had 15 seconds??

 

I cant recall the players and who was open but the point is to have an awareness of where to throw to. We tried twice to the end zone to Williams from memory. 

Edited January 5, 2020 by london_bills